The Bureau of Immigration will accept PIO cards as valid travel document till September 30, 2019, along with valid foreign passport. Indian Immigration Check Post(s) will continue to consider all PIO cards valid for exit/entry from/into India till September 30, 2019. The extension of timeline is subject to the condition that in the meantime if any deadline is notified by the ICAO, thereby making hand written PIO cards invalid, then PIO cardholders would have to obtain appropriate visa from India Missions/Posts abroad. This situation will be further reviewed in September, 2019.All PIO cardholders are meanwhile advised to convert their PIO cards to OCI cards well in time.
Any request for conversion of PIO card to OCI card will attract a fee of $100. The fees for issuance of fresh OCI cards will remain as US $275.

(b) Possession of an OCI card will facilitate quicker immigration clearance at the Immigration Check Posts;

(c) It will help in obtaining various Consular Services from the Indian Missions;

(d) For those who are resident in India, it will facilitate in availing various services in India.

OCI card holders are required to get their OCI cards reissued whenever passport is renewed for persons under twenty years of age, and OCI card needs to be renewed after crossing 50 years of age only once, that too when the US passport is renewed. If time is short and you have to travel, please make an online application for renewal of OCI Card, carry acknowledgement/ print out thereof, old passport and new passport and the old machine readable OCI card.

NOTICE TO PIO CARDHOLDERS

The deadline for submission of application for registration as OCI Cardholder by existing holders of PIO Card has been extended to December 31, 2017.